When a larger-than-life musician dies, the world mourns more than the initial loss of the individual. In the years and decades that follow their passing, we also mourn the loss of the potential music they never got to make. And that’s certainly true of a groundbreaking heavy metal collaboration that almost locked into place in 2000. But competing professional endeavors meant that it didn’t happen back then, and now, with both musicians gone, that means it never will.
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In an interview with Brazilian outlet Kazagastão, Alex Van Halen described the instability of Van Halen’s future during Y2K. The dynamics between Alex, his brother, Eddie Van Halen, and the vocalists who sang with them were tense. The lineup had already undergone numerous change-ups. Unsure of where their band might go from there, the Van Halens began looking elsewhere.
During their search, they found a potential collaborative partner who could have been a perfect match for the Van Halen brothers’ signature rock ‘n’ roll style: the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne.
The Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne Collaboration That Never Was
While speaking to Kazagastão in February 2026, Alex Van Halen described meeting with Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne’s wife and long-time manager, to discuss their professional dilemma. Sharon had decades of experience managing rock ‘n’ roll bands by the time she sat down with the brothers around 2000. Moreover, if there were any one person’s approval the Van Halens would need to collaborate with Ozzy—that wasn’t Ozzy himself—it would be Sharon.
“She’s a lovely lady,” Alex recalled. “I don’t know what people would say about her, but she’s a lovely lady who really had to fend for herself in a male-dominated world.” The Van Halens spoke with Sharon about their desire to work with Ozzy, to which she said, “It sounds like a good idea. Let’s do that. Let’s make a record together. Only one thing. I have a meeting tomorrow with some people about a television show.”
That show was, of course, The Osbournes, a pioneering genre of reality television that followed the raucous British family through their daily lives at home. It was a groundbreaking series that served as a professional accolade in its own right. But it was also the conflict that put the kibosh on a Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne crossover.
Ozzy would later admit in an email to Rolling Stone, “It is something that, if [that collab] had come to fruition, would have been phenomenal. Eddie and Alex were great friends of mine for a very long time. It’s a regret of mine that we never got it together.”
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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